The Dark Knight Reborn
by Memeaag99
Summary: Picking up immediately after "The Dark Knight", "Reborn" aims to examine Bruce Wayne and his alter ego down to his bones. Bruce Wayne has a shocking revelation that changes his path, and it will be up to a generation that grew up with Batman to save the world. Rated T for violence.


**PROLOGUE**

Alfred woke up and heard punching over in Bruce's bedroom, so he woke up, confused and scared, afraid the kid he'd helped raise, who was by now a grown man, had been caught by the police, that his identity had been discovered and the whole "caped crusader" deal was over in the worst way possible. It's true, Alfred thought, Bruce has made some mistakes, but are they bad enough to warrant an ending like this? Is there no coming back from making such mistakes? Would Bruce end up being perceived as someone who was just as bad as the monsters he fought? Alfred opened the door to find Bruce repeatedly punching a table in front of him. The table was, at this point, crackled, but it would take a few more strikes before being totally destroyed. Bruce's hands were covered in blood. Not Harvey Dent's blood, from events earlier on that very night, but from Bruce's own wounds in this tantrum he was throwing. His fingers trembled. His breathing sounded like an animal's after running for days tirelessly and ultimately getting nowhere. The most painful part, however, was Bruce's face. He seemed to have totally lost it. He was angry. Angrier than ever before. In place of the playboy smile he so often used in public, and of the neutral yet noticeably sad look he showed Alfred in his private moments of doubt, were clenching teeth, and behind them, a beast's furious roar desperately begging to come out into the light.

"Master Wayne, what's going on?" Alfred asked, while pulling out tissues from his pockets to clean up Bruce like he used to when he got hurt as a kid.

"It's the end…" Bruce said, with his eyes lost in nothingness, as if he'd had a sacred revelation, as if he'd learned a tragic truth, "… do you remember what I told you on the plane when we were coming back to Gotham? About a year ago, now… I told you why I wanted to create Batman". Alfred walked toward Bruce and sat down beside him to tend to his wounds.

"To show the people of Gotham that the city isn't controlled by crime or corruption, if I remember correctly" Alfred said, while grabbing Bruce's arm. He began cleaning up the blood.

"You do… and here we are, one year later. I've gone out in stupid, senseless, violent adventures almost every day, and it was all pointless," Alfred turned to see Bruce's face. He did not understand, "Let me show you all that your city isn't controlled by criminals and corruption, by being an outlaw, creating a lie for the whole city to buy into, having ties with the police and going around being an unstoppable, violent monster… My God… how did I not see this before?".

"I'm not sure what to say, I'm afraid…" Alfred said, turning back to Bruce's arm and continuing to clean it up.

Bruce pulled his arm out of Alfred's grasp, leaving the elder man with a broken heart that was seeable through his eyes. Bruce walked toward the massive windows looking out into the city he had helped ruin even more while trying to fix it.

"Imagine you had a disease… a terrible infection… and you decided to use a medicine that quieted your symptoms, but every time you used it, that infection grew stronger… that's what I do. That's what I am. I go out there to beat some poor thief to a pulp while I myself act above the law and go around the world, literally, in Lau's case, violating the very things I supposedly stand for… I was so blinded… thinking I could fix the world on my own with an expensive Halloween costume, training, some corruption that I saw as justified, violence… I spied on all of Gotham's people to find the Joker. Can you imagine? I said it was okay simply because it was just a one-time thing. Like when I killed Ra's and disguised it as some sorta… enlightenment, I suppose? I was just making an exception because it was a quick way to solve the problem… I was wrong to get into this whole thing in the first place".

"So… what now?" Alfred asks, nervously. It'd been a while since the last time he was afraid of Bruce. At this moment, it was impossible to know whether he'd go to sleep or jump out the window and end it all.

"No more Batman, Alfred… this is over." Bruce said. He then turned around to see his surrogate father with an unsure expression in his face, "You can go back to bed now. I'm done lashing out. It's over". Alfred stood up and left the room quietly, looking down as he walked out. Bruce slowly closed the door behind him, and then locked it.


End file.
